


Recovery Mission

by 400bugsinatrenchcoat



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bright Moon, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Moonstone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28626600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/400bugsinatrenchcoat/pseuds/400bugsinatrenchcoat
Summary: Catra and Glimmer each have a lot to work through after the defeat of Hoard Prime. Together, they each grapple with the lingering pain of their past.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! I don't know how many chapters this will be, but I hope you enjoy!

Catra’s eyelids fluttered open, the light of the moons—and the stars—above gently waking her. She could never see the moons from the Fright Zone, and it was one of the things about Bright Moon that she liked best. Another, of course, had her arm draped around her waist and was drooling slightly. It felt so right to sleep in the same bed, together, every night, even though Catra hadn’t been able to sleep until morning. She hadn’t for some time, not since before Horde Prime.

  
Carefully removing her girlfriend’s arm, Catra crept out of bed. She was always light on her feet, good at sneaking out of bed—just another side effect of growing up as a Horde Cadet. She walked over to the window, opened it, and smelled the fresh evening air. Bright Moon was certainly beautiful, but she couldn’t, not even now, months after defeating Prime, help but feel guilty looking down on it. She had caused so much hurt here, did she really deserve to live here now, among its queen? Its heros?

  
Checking behind her to make sure Adora was still asleep, Catra readied herself and leapt from the window, taking off into the night.

  
This wasn’t an unusual routine for Catra. Bright Moon’s palace, with its tall windows flooding rooms with natural light, large, open rooms, and tall ceilings, was beautiful and welcoming, but always became cramped after a while. Plus, Bright Moon at night was ten times as gorgeous as it was during the day, in her opinion.

  
She wandered aimlessly, walking to clear her head and her lungs rather than to go somewhere. Catra ended up across the lake, perched on some rocks. Staring out at the water, she remembered fighting Adora on these very shores. It wasn’t long ago. Wounds from that day might have left scars that still hadn’t fully healed. How could she possibly deserve this? Adora shouldn’t have forgiven her. She probably hated her.  
She realized that her breathing had become frantic and her shoulders tense. Subconsciously, her hand went to her neck, where she massaged the raised skin where Prime’s chip was once embedded. Catra. breathed, long and deep, with the count of four, seven, eight. Four… seven… eight.

  
After a few minutes, her mind was clearer, and she was able to push those thoughts aside. They could be dealt with later. She gazed out at the lake, perfectly still, as it glittered with the light of the sky. Bright Moon was perfectly reflected in its glassy surface, painting the calm, sleeping city in reverse.

  
A sudden motion from the lake caught her attention. Squinting, her body tense, Catra stared into the water by the opposite shore, and noticed the motion again. A slight, barely noticeable haziness flickered in the reflection of Bright Moon’s palace, the disturbance concentrated in a fairly small area. Whatever it was, magic or tech, it was on the move.

  
It was headed for the Moonstone.

  
Catra ran across the isthmus to the palace. Her eyes fixed on the disturbance in the lake, following its movements carefully. What kind of creature could appear only in reflections? Was it even a creature at all?

_I don’t care what it is right now, as long as it doesn’t see me._

  
She reached the base of the Moonstone’s tower. From here, Catra saw the disturbance, about ten feet out in the lake, up close. Her fear was confirmed. She had seen this before.

  
Almost like a glitch, spots on the reflection flickered with a bright haze. Seeing this brought Catra back—way back—to the Fright Zone. Shadow Weaver—it was always her, wasn’t it?—would walk the halls, invisible, during the night. This was common knowledge, though more of a story to keep younger kids in bed past their curfew. This hadn’t intimidated Catra, nothing the force captains told her ever really did. She was stealthier than Shadow Weaver, she ensured Adora one night before she snuck out. Adora had been too scared to leave her bed, a trait she soon grew out of. Catra kept her back to the wall, light on her toes as she left the room.

  
A weak invisibility spell is easy to identify. Incongruities in the air around the caster, their body phasing in and out of reality, and, of course, disturbances in their reflections. That’s what Catra had seen that night. Creeping along a dimly lit hallway, a flicker on a metal panel around the corner made her fur stand on end. If just for a split second, she had caught a glimpse of Shadow Weaver’s face. Catra had smiled and ran back to her bunk to share the news with Adora. Yes, Shadow Weaver roamed the halls of the Fight Zone at night, but now, Catra knew how to avoid her.  
She had never seen something like what she saw now outside of the Fight Zone. Only Shadow Weaver, clearly overlooking something in her invisibility spells, had left such a footprint. It was impossible. There was no way she could be alive. Still, the though lodged itself in Catra’s head.

  
_This must be her._

  
Noticing that the disturbance was almost upon the bridge to the Moonstone, Catra gritted her teeth and dug her claws into the tower’s shiny surface and began to climb. Reaching the top was no problem for her, as she had had to climb much higher in her pursuits before. Smiling fondly, she remembered scaling a cliff to chase Adora in the Valley of the Lost. Though she was incredibly thankful to see Adora as a friend now, she had missed the thrill of the chase, of the hunt. Bright Moon was safe, but dull. The thrill was back.

  
Having scaled the Moonstone Tower, Catra clutched the side of the wall, looking to the lake. The reflection, directly below her, showed a small flicker on the opposite side of the bridge leading to the moonstone. It moved at a calm walking pace, almost hesitant. What did she want…

  
Catra clutched the tower with her claws, poised for attack, ready to jump on the intruder when she got close. She watched the disturbance until the reflection was obscured by the tower’s walls, then counted, matching the pace that she detected before and calculating when the intruder would reach the Moonstone.

  
_Three…_

  
Her heart was racing. Adrenaline rushed through her blood, her body tense.

  
_Two…_

  
**_One!_ **

  
Catra leapt, arms extended to catch whoever stood on the tower. She felt her hands make contact, and two bodies collapsed to the floor. There was a flicker of light in the air, and the invisibility spell fell away.  
“Shad— _Glimmer?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was corny but I don't care :) Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Glimmer trade explanations at the Moonstone.

“Catra, _what_ are you doing? Get off of me!”

The Queen of Bright Moon shoved Catra off of her chest and Catra, in shock, hastened back a step.

“I—I could ask you the same!”

Glimmer stood up and brushed herself off. She wasn’t dressed in her night clothes, or her regular outfit. She wore traveling boots and a dark cloak.

“Why did you tackle me like that? How did you even…”

“What. Are. You. Doing.”

Glimmer paused for a moment, looking quizzically at Catra’s face. Her expression softened and she sat on the ground, patting the floor beside her. Catra, hesitant, crouched next to her friend, wrapping her arms around her legs.

“I… I need to do something, and I need to do it alone.” She said, looking into the Moonstone.

“Do you think that explanation is good enough? Come on, Glimmer, it’s the dead of night and you’re wandering off in secret—does anyone know about this?”

Glimmer rested her chin in her hands and sighed.

“No. I didn’t want anyone to follow me.”

“That worked out well…”

They chuckled.

“And you, Catra? Where were you off to?”

“I wasn’t off _to_ anywhere. Just needed… I just needed some air.”

Glimmer nodded understandingly.

“But really, what do you want with the Moonstone?”

“I… there’s a chance that… if I can harness my full powers…” her eyes glittered dangerously, “t-that I can…”

She burst into tears and buried her face in her hands.

_“My mom might s-still be in there!”_

“In… in the portal dimension? Glimmer,” Catra placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

_“I h-have to—I have to TRY!”_

Catra slid close to Glimmer and embraced her.

“Glimmer, I know how you feel,” she whispered softly into the queen’s ear, “but that isn’t possible. The dimension was unstable, it _collapsed in on itself._ You… you can’t save her. I’m so sorry.”

Glimmer sniffled.

“You… you don’t _understand,_ Catra. I’ve been researching at Mystacore. There’s… there’s a chance that she’s still in there!”

Catra stood and helped Glimmer up.

“I’m confused. She couldn’t have survived that.”

“She’s stuck, stuck between our world and… and the void. But if I can get in there, if I can get to her, I might be able to bring her back.”

Her voice was steadier now, more certain.

“It can’t be that simple, Glimmer. What aren’t you telling me?”

Glimmer paused.

“No one has… no one has been where I’m going. No one in our world, anyway. I’m… I’m not sure if I’ll be the same when I get back.”

Unspoken words hovered in the air. Catra heard them, and Glimmer as good as said them.

_If I come back at all._

“What?!” said Catra. Glimmer looked up at her, face shining with tears and determination.

_“Please,_ Catra, you have to know why I’m doing this! If I can see her… talk to her again? If I can _bring her back home?_ Is there anything you wouldn’t do to have someone you love back in your arms again?”

Catra was silent.

“I’m… I’m sorry, Catra, I didn’t want you to have to worry about this. Go back to the palace and, in the morning…”

“If you’re not… not _back_ in the morning, pretend I know nothing? That’s stupid, Glimmer.” Her voice was stern, fueled with passion.

“You thought you could just leave on a _suicide mission_ in the middle of the night, alone, and not tell anyone? What, do you not trust us? Are we too weak for you?”

“No, I never meant that!”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant. You could have vanished forever, out of the blue. I can’t let that happen.”

_“I have to do this, Catra!”_ Glimmer yelled.

“I know.”

Catra’s face was set, and her arm extended to Glimmer.

“But you are _not_ going alone. Someone has to stop you from doing something stupid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3

**Author's Note:**

> that was maybe corny, I don't know :p


End file.
